Chapter 2 Comparing medieval and Renaissance paintings The way artists painted pictures changed greatly during the Renaissance. T he best way to see the change is to compare these two pictures. Picture A was painted by a medieval artist and Picture B was painted during the Renaissance. Both show the birth of Jes us but in very different ways. A B This is a medieval painting showing the birth of Jesus in a stable in Beth lehem. But it does not show the scene real istically. The gold sky, the angels and the smal l figures in front are all to show that this story is about God coming tq earth. Humans are not very important here. This is a Renaissance pai nting showing th1 same scene. Do you see how much mon realistic this is? Mary, Joseph and the bab: are the right size and look like real people There are no angels, only a real building i1 the background. The message of this pictun is that Jesus was a human being like us. Making pictures more lifelike The aim of Renaissance artists was to make pictures more lifelike. They developed a number of tricks to do that. H ere are some of them. Showing perspective: Things that are further away from us look smaller than things that are close. This is called 'perspective'. In the Renaissance, artists learned how to show this in their pictures. Can you see it in Picture B above? Studying the body: Some artists studied anatomy. They cut up dead bodies to find out where the bones were and how the muscles worked. This made their paintings of bodies more accurate. Which Jesus is more like a real baby? Studying nature: Artists looked closely at trees and flowers and tried to paint them as they were. Animals and nature scenes are usually included in Renaissance paintings. 162 Living History
Chapter 2 Painting in the Renaissance Sfumato: When we look closely at real skin, we can see that it has many shades of colour. Artists used a technique called ifumato a show this. Sfumato is where you add shading to a picture. That made paintings of faces and bodies much more lifelike. It is used on the face and hands of Mona Lisa. Can you see it? Painting in oils: Early in the Renaissance, painters mixed their colours with egg white. This dried quickly so it was difficult to get the effect they wanted. Then a French artist discovered how to make and use oil paints. These dried more slowly and allowed artists to show things more accurately. Frescos M any Renaissance paintings were frescos. A fresco is a picture painted directly onto a wall or a ceiling. The Romans had painted frescos, and during the Renaissance artists revived the idea. They used frescos to decorate their churches and houses. do da Vinci's Mona Lisa. List four things that show us that this is I... a1ssance pa1nt1ng. Painting on canvas Renaissance artists also painted smaller pictures. They painted them on canvas rather than on wooden boards as the medieval artists had done. Canvas was easier to paint on and less likely to crack. r up of Mona Lisa's hands. Leonardo used sfumato to nis portraits more lifelike. Painting portraits In the Renaissance, wealthy and important men hired artists to paint their portraits. Sometimes they got portraits of their wives as well. Often that happened when the wife was expecting a baby. A great many women died in childbirth and the portrait would remain to remind the fami ly of the mother they had lost. The Mona L isa is an example of a portrait. Living History 163
Section S The Renaissance Questions 1 List two ways in which a Renaissance painting was different from a medieval painting. 2 Explain each of the following: (i) perspective; (ii) sfumato; (iii) portrait. 3 What did early Renaissance painters fi rst use to mix their paints? What did they later use? Why was that better? 4 What was a picture painted onto a wall called? S What did medieval painters paint on, and what did Renaissance painters use instead? Why? Case Studies of Two Famous Painters Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1S19) Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest geniuses of the Renaissance. H e was a marvellous painter but he was also an inventor. Early life Leonardo was born in 1452 in Vinci, near Florence. That is where he got his name. His father wanted Leonardo to become a lawyer but Leonardo was interested in painting. At fifteen years of age he was apprenticed to a leading Florentine artist to learn to paint. It soon became clear that Leonardo was better than his master. The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper Leonardo then set up his own studio. An early painting was the A doration of the Magi, but he did not finish it. This proved to be one of his great weaknesses. H e was interested in so many things that he soon grew bored with a particular painting. For that reason, he only finished a few. But they show how good he was. Virgin on the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci. The woman on the right is an angel. The angel represents Leonardo's idea of a perfect woman Would you agree with him? 164 Living History
Chapter 2 Painting in the Renaissance H e was the first artist to use ifumato, and he was good at portraying people's feelings. You can see both of these qualities in his m ost fa m ous picture, the Mona Lisa. People have argued fo r a long time about what sort of expression is on her face. Is it one of sadness or happiness? What do you think? Leonardo's Last Supper After Florence became involved in war, Leonardo m oved to Milan. There he painted The Last Supper on the wall of a convent church. It was a fresco, but Leonardo tried out a nardo's painting of Christ's Last Supper. It was painted on the wall of a convent. Can you explain why not clear? new recipe fo r making the paint. It did not work. Soon after the picture was done, the paint began to peel away. You can see that in this picture. Leonardo's notebooks Leonardo always carried a notebook with him so that he could j ot down any ideas he had. If he saw an interesting face on the street, he would draw it. Sometimes he followed the person hom e so that he could finish the drawing. H e dissected m ore than thirty bodies of men and wom en in order to study the human body closely. H e also had a great interest in nature and animals. It is said that as a boy Leonardo bought caged birds in the street market in Florence just to set them free. When Leonardo wrote in his notebooks he used mirror writing (from right to left). For that reason no one read his notes until many years after his death. Today we have over 5,000 pages of his notebooks. They contain diagrams of machines as well as notes on botany, geology and engineering. Living History 165
Section S The Renaissance Leonardo the inventor In Milan Leonardo worked for Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of M ilan, who was fighting a war. Leonardo invented several weapons of war for him, including an armoured car and a cannon. His notebooks show that he thought about other inventions such as tanks, submarines and aeroplanes with flapping wings. f......... ~._.,... l.., Leonardo's last years When a French army captured Milan, Leonardo had to leave. H e went to Florence and Rome but younger artists like Michelangelo and Raphael were more popular than he was. In 151 6 the King of France invited Leonardo to France. H e died there three years later. On the left is Leonardo's plan for a flying machine. On the ri ght is the machine peopl built based on his plans. Can you see the corkscrew-shaped sail and the ma1 pedalling? It did work! Raphael (1483-1520) Another Italian painter was Raphael Sanzio. As a young man he went to Florence where he studied the paintings of Leonardo. H e learned how to use ifumato and studied anatomy. Raphael became famous for his paintings of the M adonna (Mary the mother of Jesus). People thought they were the most beautiful paintings they had seen. In 1508 Pope Julius II asked him to go to Rome and paint frescos on the walls of his private rooms. The painting opposite is one of the frescos he painted. D o you notice his use of perspective? H is paintings for the pope made Raphael rich and famous. Everyone in Rome wanted him to paint for them. In 1514, he was appointed the chief architect fo r the rebuilding of St Peter's Basilica (large cathedral) in Rome. But all the work damaged his health and he died in 1520 at the age of thirty-seven. Questions Painting of the Madonna by Raphael. The woma shown in the painting is said to have been the mistrei of Raphael. 1 Where did Leonardo da Vinci come from? How did he train as an artist? 2 Name one of Leonardo's paintings and describe it. 3 Name two of the techniques Leonardo used in his paintings. 4 Name one other Italian Renaissance painter. Say who his patron was and name one of his paintings. 166 Living History
Chapter 2 Painting in the Renaissance The School of Athens by Raphael. It was painted on the wall of one of the pope's private rooms. 1 Look at the picture called The School of Athens above by Raphael. Name two things in it that show it is a Renaissance and not a medieval painting. 2 For whom did Raphael paint the picture? How does the painting show us that people in the Renaissance were interested in the ancient world of Greece? 3 Write about an artist who worked in Italy during the Renaissance. You may use the following hints in your answer: training; patrons; techniques; works. (Junior Certificate, 1993) Living History 167